Newcomer
by Xiris
Summary: A newcomer on the plateau
1. Thoughts

**Newcomer**

1. Thoughts

It was a warm evening on the plateau. The inhabitants of Veronica's treehouse were enjoying each others company. After having a wonderful meal, cooked by Roxton, they were discussing the experiences of the day over a glass of wine. Marguerite felt a happiness, something she didn't feel quite often. It was just the thing that they were sitting there enjoying each others stories, making jokes and laughing that gave her a real boost.

Off course she was still missing Malone as were the others. 'Why did that fool have to go on a dangerous journey, on his own!' she thought. From the corner of her eye she looked at Veronica who was caught in a fit of laughter because of Roxton's jokes. 'Poor girl', Marguerite thought. She knew that Veronica felt 'something' for the blond guy. And she was missing him right now. Marguerite's thoughts were interrupted by Challenger's statement.

''Tomorrow we should take a look at the windmill, I believe something is wrong, we have less energy then we had before''. The professor stated.

''Oh, do we have to George, I wanted to….…….'' Marguerite started her whining.

''Yes, we have, if we don't have enough energy, we don't have any power for the electric fence and that will make us weak'' Challenger continued. ''It's important that it works''.

Marguerite sighed. Roxton grimaced at her. ''What are you laughing about'', she snapped at him. ''Nothing my queen, nothing at all'', he chuckled as he stood up to clean the table.

''Well, I'm going to bed, what time do we leave?'' Veronica asked.

''Six o'clock is a good time, I think''. Roxton answered.

''All right, see you in the morning, goodnight''. ''Goodnight''

Veronica went downstairs to her room. Quickly followed by Marguerite who wanted to have some sleep before she would have to get up in 'the middle of the night' (according to her). As she passed Veronica's room she heard some sniffling. She moved away the curtain and there she saw Veroncia crying on her bed, clutching a pillow. A knot formed in Marguerite's stomach. Not knowing what to do or say she putted the curtain back. ''He will be back Veronica, I'm sure of it'', she whispered. There were tears forming in her own eyes and she quickly proceeded to her own room.

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Not that far away from the treehouse a young guy was sitting near a warm fire. Knowing that he would be 'home' tomorrow afternoon, a smile crept on his face. After months he would see his good friend Roxton who he saw more as a brother than a friend, Challenger, the man he could always talk to about everything, Marguerite, to squabble with. And than there was Veronica, off course. The lovely blond that he fall in love with from the first moment he saw her. She was missing when he left the treehouse after that hallucinating experience he had. He had hoped that he would found Veronica on his journey, but he didn't. He hoped that she had make it back to the treehouse on her own. He lay back, watching the stars in the dark sky dreaming about his beloved. ''Goodnight Veronica, see you tomorrow'', he whispered. Than his eyes fell down and he dreamed about Veronica and himself together.

At the first light of the sun Malone was awake and ready to go. He took his pack and followed the jungle path that would lead to the treehouse.

After a couple of hours he saw some sort of material in the trees along the jungle path. It looked like canvas. 'What the…..', Malone thought, accelerating his pace he approached the trees with the canvas material in it. His riffle strongly clutched in his hands. The canvas was definitely from a balloon, but it wasn't Challenger's balloon this one was made of different type of canvas. Not the type Challenger had used for his balloon. Malone knew it was not possible but he couldn't help to call for the one he was so anxious to see.

''Veronica, Veronica, are you somewhere around?'', Malone yelled. There was no answer.

'Off course not, you idiot', he scolded himself. He came closer to have a better look. 'Where on earth is the basket?'. There were a lot of things spreaded across the jungle floor. Cans, blankets, canteens, tools, clothes. Malone took a shirt and a jacket and studied it. It was good material. The etiquette showed a name of a shop in London.

''I'll be damned'', he muttered. "This balloon is coming from London, that means that a new group of explores has arrived".

Malone walked a bit further to examine the other materials. He was so concentrated he didn't notice the pair of eyes that were staring at him.


	2. The survivor

2. The survivor

''Marguerite, Marguerite!'' Challenger called the heiress with some annoyance in his voice. ''Will the girl ever learn to get up on time'', he muttered while descending the stairs to her bedroom. Entering her room he started a lecture. ''Marguerite, you know very well that we would leave at seven o'clock. It's five minutes over seven right now and you are still in bed''. One eye of Marguerite opened.

''I'm sure you don't mind to go without me, Challenger, have a nice day'', she yawned before rolling over to the other side, pulling the blanket over her head. Challenger sighed.

''You will help us Marguerite, the job is a lot easier when there are four people who work on it. Now, I'll give you three seconds to get up or I'll throw a bucket of water over your head''. Marguerite remained still. ''One……Two…….

''All right, all right, I'm already out, see!'' Marguerite snarled while getting out of her bed. ''Good girl, now get dressed'', Challenger threw Marguerite's clothes on the bed. ''Do you mind?'' Marguerite growled.

''What?''

''Leaving my room! I'm standing here in my nightdress!''

''I have seen girls in nightdresses before Marguerite, now will you hurry up!'' he said while leaving her room.

''That doesn't mean you have the right to see me like this!'' she yelled back.

''Where is she?'' asked an annoyed Veronica upstairs in the main room.

''She'll be up in a second, now I'll get the last things that we will need today and than we leave'', Challenger left to his laboratory.

''Yeah well Marguerite doesn't know what a second is, she only knows the meaning of an hour'', Veronica complained while plopping down on the sofa.

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Malone took those things that were still intact and good looking from what fell out of the balloon. 'There are no tracks of humans', Malone thought wondering what would have happened to the passengers of the balloon. His eye fell on a book. Picking up the book he saw it was a logbook. Malone started reading. ''May 23th 1922, that's just one week ago'', Malone whispered in surprise.

''What on earth do you think you're doing'', a childlike, girly voice snapped behind Malone's back. Slowly Malone turned around only to look at the end of a riffle, holding the riffle was a tiny, dark haired young girl, not older than thirteen years, with a wild look. Her hair was a mess and so were her clothes.

''I said, what are you doing'', she snapped again. Malone saw that she was shaking, not able to hold the riffle properly. _'Most likely never shot a riffle before'_, Malone thought.

''Calm down'', he said with a soft voice. ''There is no need to be afraid, I won't hurt you and if you want I will leave these things right here, okay?'', Malone tried to calm her which seemed to work as she lowered the riffle. But she kept clutching it firmly. ''I'm Ned Malone'', Malone extended his hand and took a step forward.

''Stay were you are!'', the girl immediately pointed the riffle back at Malone.

''Whoa, I said I won't hurt you, now I would be very pleased if you won't point that riffle at me again'', Malone said holding his hands up in the air.

''Why should I believe you?'', she growled.

''Why shouldn't you?'', was Malone's answer. ''Look, girl, I accidentally found this balloon, I'm on my way back home, I will leave all these things here with the balloon, there is really no need for you to mistrust. Please, put that riffle away''.

The girl took a good look at Malone, than hesitated, and finally lowered the riffle again. ''You can take those things if you want, I've already got my own belongings'', she said. Her voice and eyes were sad. _'Like she has given up all hope'_, Malone thought. She turned around and walked away to what seemed a self-made tent.

''Er…. I guess you arrived with this balloon?'' Malone started. ''What happened, when did you crash?'' The girl sat down and stared in front of her.

''Yes, I arrived with that balloon. We crashed three days ago''.

''We? Where are the others? How many of you were there?'' the curious journalist in Malone came to the surface as he asked her the questions. The girl sighed before she continued.

''There were four other people, all men. They have been killed by monsters''.

''Raptors'', Malone murmured.

''What did you say?'', the girl asked.

'_She doesn't know at all where she is'_, Malone thought. ''Nothing, er…why did you get here and how and…….why did they take you with them, this is no place for a little girl like you!'' Malone asked.

''I'm not a little girl!'', she snapped. ''And those men didn't take me with them, I….just…..er…..went with them''. There was a silence.

''I guess you weren't suppose to go with them at all, weren't you?'' Malone asked her.

''Well, er…as a matter of fact I er……..……..'', her eyes met Malone's for a moment, he was staring at her, daring her to lie. After a deep sigh her real story came out. ''No, I wasn't. I ran away from the orphanage where I lived. I wanted to leave and found out that there was a group of explorers that were leaving to an exotic place. Without thinking further about it I took my chance, climbed on the ship to South America as a stowaway and when we arrived there I climbed in the basket of the balloon that was below deck, I waited and waited until they were leaving and now I'm here''.

''Didn't they found out you were in the balloon?'' Malone asked.

''They did, when we were an hour on the way. They were furious at me. Eventually they got into a fight on their own and finally they decided I had to come with them. They were too far away to bring me back. We were flying for over three hours when we were caught in a heavy storm. The next thing I knew I was here lying on the ground'', she continued.

''Are you hurt somewhere'', Malone asked with some concern.

''No, just some bruises and scratches, those men were less lucky, they fell out some metres from here and were attacked by those monsters. Oh, that sight was awful''. There were tears in her eyes now. Obviously the young girl was pretty shocked by all those happenings and she was desperate. ''I really don't know what I have to do now'', she started sobbing. It didn't take long or Malone was trying to comfort the girl who was now sobbing on his shoulder.

''There, there, I'm sure we can think of something, hey'', he soothed. ''Right now I think it's the best if you come with me, I can't leave you here on you own''.

''But where are we going then?'' she asked between tears.

''To the place where I live, not far away from here'', Malone answered while taking the girls belongings. ''Are you ready?'' She gave him a nod and a slight smile.

''All right, lets go!''

There they went, Malone leading the way with his own pack, the pack of the little girl and two riffles. The young girl walked close behind him. Still a bit frightened of him. She didn't know if she could trust the blond guy, but she didn't have a choice. She knew that she would find dead very soon if she had stayed there with the balloon, on her own. She let a deep sigh, again, and followed Malone in silence.


	3. Julia

3. Julia

''Marguerite, will you hand me that hammer?'' Roxton asked the heiress who was sitting in the shadows of a group of trees. With some complaining she got up on her feet handing Roxton the hammer. ''Thanks, love'', he said with a grin. This earned Roxton a furious glare.

''Ah, we're doing fine'', Challenger said while climbing down a ladder next to the windmill. ''I'd say we take a couple of minutes to rest and have some lunch over there in the shadows''.

''We can use some rest, yes, but Marguerite has already rested long enough, didn't you Marguerite'', Veronica snarled.

''I did give you the tools when you asked for it, didn't I, you didn't have to come of that ladder once, Veronica, you know I have not the skills of making that stupid windmill'', Marguerite defeated herself.

''Ooooh, yeah, reaching tools to us is really a job, isn't it, we should call you are own tool-reacher!'' Veronica teased. Marguerite glowered at Veronica as she was ready to attack her.

''Come here, you little brat!'' she said while running after Veronica.

It didn't take long or both women were running after each other and laughing about their childish behaviour using Challenger as a cover shield by running in circles around him. Until he finally had enough of it.

''Since when am I a may pole!'' he asked while holding Marguerite's arm in one hand and Veronica's in the other.

''She started it!'' Marguerite pointed at Veronica who was caught into a fit of laughter again.

''Yes well I'm ending it now, okay?'' Both women were laughing now. ''I said okay?''

''Yes, sir'', Veronica said while saluting at the professor.

Releasing the women Challenger looked at Roxton, who was chuckling, muttering something about the behaviour of women and girls that he still didn't understand.

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Malone had a steady pace. The young girl could hardly keep up with him. Eventually she was gasping for air which Malone noticed.

''I think it's better if we take a break here'', he said to the girl who gratefully accepted his offer. They sat down near a lake and Malone gave his canteen to the girl. After a few minutes her breathing was back to normal.

''So, are you going to tell me what your name is?'' Malone asked carefully. He was wondering about the girls name for a while. She didn't introduce herself yet.

She smiled at him. ''I'm sorry, I totally forgot. I'm Julia Smith''. ''And you're from London, right?''

''Right''

''And you're what, thirteen years old?''

''How do you know I'm thirteen?'' she asked in surprise.

''A wild guess'', Malone grinned.

Before Malone could ask more questions, Julia decided to turn the tables. ''Are you here on your own, in this place?'' she asked Malone.

''No, I came here as a member of an expedition, the Challenger expedition''. Malone saw there was no recognition with the name of Challenger. ''We came here with five, professor Challenger, professor Summerlee, Lord Roxton, Marguerite Krux and me''.

''And you are living with this people here?'' Julia continued.

''Yes, unfortunately Summerlee disappeared, we don't know what happened to him''. Malone stared over the lake thinking about the professor he truly admired. Julia brought him back to the real world.

''But where are you living? In caves, in tents?''

''Oh, no, we live in a treehouse''.

Julia started laughing hysterically. ''A treehouse, sure!''

Malone looked at her seriously until she stopped.

''You really live in a treehouse, don't you?''

''Yes, we do. In Veronica's treehouse''.

''Who is Veronica?''

''She was born here, her parents came here years ago with an expedition. But her parents disappeared when Veronica was a little girl and she had to take care of herself. She took us in her home when we arrived here. Without Veronica we would never survived''. Julia looked at Malone, she liked this guy. She knew he was honest to her.

''I think we should move on, I'm pretty tired and hungry and I could use a bath'', Malone stated.

''Yes, me too, to all three things'', she laughed. Malone smiled back at her and they continued their path.


End file.
